These Regulations are designed to promote the segregation and recovery of food waste arising in the commercial sector. They will facilitate in particular the achievement of the targets set out in Directive 99/31/EC on the landfill of waste, for the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) from landfill sites to composting and anaerobic digestion plants and to other forms of biological treatment.  The Minister being from the Green Party does not support incineration and he has specified in the legislation that the food waste cannot be sent to incineration. The Regulation also prohibits the disposal of source separated food waste into the residual collection service.

The Regulations impose obligations on the major producers of food waste, such as State buildings where food is prepared, restaurants and cafés, hot food outlets, canteens, hotels and larger guest houses, supermarkets and other food retailers, to segregate these materials and make them available for separate collection service (commonly known as a brown bin service in Ireland). Alternatively, these materials can be biologically treated (e.g.  composted) on the premises where they arise under specified conditions. There is an exemption for the first year of the Regulation for small businesses which produce less than 50kg of food waste per week.

To comply with the Regulations, a waste producer must submit to the local authority a food waste management implementation report on the use, type, quantity, origin, management arrangements and destination of food waste. An annual environmental report (AER) may be prepared by a producer in response to a notification by local authority.  This AER would contain the following:

(i)        Quantities of food supplied to customers;

(ii)       Quantities of food waste consigned to biological treatment;

(iii)               Quantities of food waste managed by methods other than biological treatment;

(iv)      Quantities of food discarded as waste;

(v)       Measures proposed to reduce food waste; and

(vi)      Measures adopted to reduce food waste. 

Interestingly the AER has to include measures in which the waste producer adopted to reduce food waste in the first place. Businesses, which already use a brown bin service in Ireland, found initially that by source separating food waste and weighing it (brown bin service in Ireland is charge by a per kilo basis), it astounds business on how much food waste they generate. This then has made some businesses examine ways to prevent food waste.

The Regulations indirectly curtail the use of in-sink macerators.  The Regulations state that the output from an in-sink macerator cannot be disposed of into the sewer system.

These Regulations came into force on 1^st January 2010.  However the main part of the Regulations (segregating of the food waste, use of a brown bin collection service/ treating on-site, constraints on in-sink macerators) is not obligatory until 1^st of July 2010.

The Regulations have many benefits for the waste producer as it helps them save money as they avoid the landfill levy as the food waste does not go for disposal. For waste collectors it makes it an even playing field as all collectors have to jump together at the same time and provide a brown bin service. For the processors, it gives them certainty for to build the composting and anaerobic digestion plants to process the food waste into quality compost and digestate.

More importantly at a Biowaste Industry Investment Summit hosted by Cré last year with banks and investment groups, in this very uncertain economic climate, this legislation gives them the security to provide capital funding to build the infrastructure to process the food waste. In the future for this reason alone many other European Countries should follow Ireland’s example if they want to reduce their reliance on landfills and incineration and provide national source separation legislation which will enable investment to happen, and most of important create 1000’s of badly needed jobs.

Beside the source separation legislation, the Government has announced many new initiatives that during 2010 that will divert significant quantities of organic waste from landfills. The new Government initiatives are:

The – landfill levy will be increased in a stepped effect over the next two years. By February 2010 the landfill levy will have been increased to €30 per tonne and will increase to €50 per tonne in 2011 and €75 per tonne in 2012;

An  – incineration levy of €20-38 per tonne will be introduced;

The – Environmental Protection Agency Guidance on Pre-treatment of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to Landfill will restrict the amount of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill. Biodegradable municipal waste will have to be stabilised to a standard by composting/ anaerobic digestion so as to meet the requirements of the Directive and avoid the landfill levy. This comes into effect on the 1^st of July 2010;

The – Government Green Enterprise Action Group published its report and over the next six months the Prime Minister will be overseeing the implementation of its recommendations;

       – Section 60 Notice will restrict the amount of waste that can be sent to incineration;

      – Renewable Energy Feed in Tariff (REFIT) guarantee the price of electricity produced from an anaerobic digestion plants for 15 years; and

      – Review of Waste Management Policy – Some of the 26 recommendations include:

·          – National legislation that waste collectors of household waste provide a “weekly collection of food waste”;

·          – National legislation that household recycling centres have facilities for the collection of garden/ park waste; and

·          – Targets for the quantity of “residual waste” from households in a local authority area – if the local authority exceeds this, it will be fined €50 per tonne.

Emerging Trends

Anaerobic Digestion is emerging as a technology to process food waste, due in part for its potential as a source of renewable energy. There is a significant interest amongst compost facilities to expand facilities by adding on an anaerobic digestion plant to treat food waste followed by post composting the digestate. Due to the interest of Cré members in this technology, members will be formally consulted to widen the remit of Cré to include anaerobic digestion.

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During their visit the ‘waste tourist’ will get one or more containers filled with waste and arrange for export. Their typically short stay makes it very difficult to bring them to justice.

EA chairman Lord Chris Smith said: “Investigations have found that each year thousands of tonnes of waste electrical equipment are shipped from Europe and America to developing countries to be stripped down – often by children under appalling conditions – to extract valuable metals such as gold, copper and aluminium.

“This is unacceptable. It is essential that we work with our counterparts in other countries to share intelligence and stamp out the growing problem of illegal waste exports.

“The group’s aim is to tackle an international problem with an international response.

The Environment Agency-led Interpol Global Crime Group initiative won the praise of both the US and Canadian Governments during recent international meetings.

Lord Smith together with Chief Executive Paul Leinster met with US EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and her officials in Washington last week to discuss key global issues such as climate change, waste and water resources.

The two organisations will work closely on intelligence-led illegal waste operations in the future.

UK householders throw away £12 billion worth of food and drink that could have been consumed every year, according to new figurers from the Waste & Resources Action Programme.

WRAP is encouraging people to use up left over liquids in the same way as food. For example, it is encouraging people to freeze and re-use custard or soup.

Latest data shows that 1.8 million tonnes of food and drink from households end up in sewers, of which some 1.5 million tonnes of waste, valued at £2.7 billion, could have been avoided through better storage or planning.

WRAP head of consumer campaigns Doreen McIntyre told us: “These are still big challenges and it is not that simple to try and get people to change their behaviours overnight. It will be a long time before we solve the problem.”

She said that the new figures compiled by WRAP will help people realise how much money they waste on food and drink not consumed.

According to diaries kept by 319 households across the country, the most wasted drink is milk, followed by fizzy soft drinks and then fruit juices and smoothies. Drink waste costs the UK 1.6bn annually and WRAP states that “we throw away around £250m of fizzy drinks and £190m of fruit juices and smoothies every year”.

Since launching in November 2007, WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign has helped around 2.1 million homes to take steps to cut back on the amount of food they throw away, resulting in a reduction of £162,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases being emitted.

WRAP’s objective is to reduce household food waste being sent to landfill by 250,000 tonnes by March 2011. It is currently conducting new research that will identify the amount of meat and fish and its associated packaging which ends up as waste in the UK retail supply.

WRAP figures on the amount of waste down the plughole every year:

• £470m wine
• £250m milk
• £190m fizzy soft drinks
• £160m fruit juice or smoothies
• £120m lager, beer and cider
• £120m soup
• £100m tea
• £120m cook-in-sauces
• £50m squash
• £46m gravy
• £35m bottled water